John h



(No Model.)

J. H. LORIMER.

DRYING PROCESS. No. 854,798. j Patented Dec. 21, 1888.

' l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. LORIMER, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

D RYING P-R'ocEss.

Application tiled March 26, 1386.

.To aZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, the city and county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Drying Processes, of which the following is a specification.

process for treating textile bers or materialssuch as Wool," cotton, yarn, rags, paper-pulp, Ste.; and it consists incertain improvements, all of which are fully set forth in; the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, which form part thereof.

In Letters Patent granted to me March 2,

1886, drying-machine forl drying &c., by causing them to pass back and forth through a .chamber by means of endless aprons, through which chamber and material to be dried currents of air or drying medium are caused to pass; also, in an application bearing even date with this is described apparatus in which gasied, vaporizcd, atomized,or sprayed disinfectents or colors are fed to the drying-air passing through the machine, whereby it is made to act upon the material which is being conveyed back and forth through the drying-chamber, the air acting as a vehicle for conveying the gas or liquid in its No. 336,928, is describedan improved finely-divided condition to and into the mate- In this application myA rial to be acted upon.

object. is to supply the disinfectant or bleach- Ing gas or color to the air being passed through the machine, whereby, Awhile the airis drying the passing material conveyed back and forth through the drying-chamber, the disinfectant or bleaching gas or color shall be simultaneously conveyed by said air-currents and caused to act upon every portion of the said material during its passage through the Ina.- chine. By this method the material is uniformly treate Whether for tinting or for bleaching or disinfecting, or both combined. The bleaching agents may be moist chlorine gas, su1phurous`acid, te., `and. this may be generated in a separate chamberv or compartment and supplied to the current vof air as it passes to the machine. Chlorine is very extensively employed for bleaching linen and cotton, the gas acting upon the coloring-matter without aii'ecting the ber; but silk and wool present much less JOHN H. LoRIMER, of

the passingair My invention has reference to an improved l wool, cotton, yarn,

resistance to chemical ac- Y Serial No. 196,643. (No model.)

hence they are invariably bleached by sul- The chlorine mav be used in the form ofhypoclorite of lime in solution,

which may be vaporized or sprayed and fed to. entering the dr.ying-chamber.

Sulphurous acid is generally used for-bleachingsilk, straw, wool, sponge, isinglass, &c., which Would be injured by the great chemical energy of chlorine. In this vcase the moist article or material when fed to the machine would bc 'treated in its moistvstate by the 'sulphurous acid which is conveyed by the passing air, and after being bleached4 the material is dried bythe natural operation of the machine'. The sulphurous acid mightl be generated by .burning sulphur, and conveyed intothe sup- .ply-pipe or i aprons.

nto the 'machine between the njured by chlorine;

I do not limit 'myself to any particular disinfectant or bleaching reagent, as any gas or V fluid might be used to suit the requirements ofthe material. f

In-thel drawings, Figure l is a sectional, elevation von line ,x :c of a'machine in which to carry on my 'improved process. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of same on line yy.

AB are two endless aprons between which the wool or cottonto be dried is held and conveyed through `the drier or hot-air chamber, and may be 'formed of link-chains with slats between, or `I vebbing, netting, or.a combination of any two or moreof these may be used, the lparticular constiuiction of these endless conveyers or aprons being immaterial to my invention. These aprons A B lie close upon each other in passing through the heating or drying chamber H, and while passing around and over the guide-rollers G G move back and forth'or up and down through said chamber for thepurpose of being retained therein as long a time as necessary. The apron Ais guided outside the chamber H by rollers K, and apron B by rollers E E',

D- is the feeding ,nd,'and may be of any suitable construction, and the yarn, wool, or cotton to be dried, after being fed upon the apron B, is carried up over rollers G and between it and theapron A, which passes around roller K, and enters the drying-chamber H through openings k, the aprons (and, it

andfwhile held between displacement by slats C thereon) is conveyed over rollers G G, and after passing baclLand forth a number of times emerges by apertures h to the outside of the chamber, and the material from between the said aprons is discharged at W.

The traveling aprons may be made in any manner desired, but should be of open netting or webbing, and may be secured to chains on its lateral edges, and may be furnished with slats which would be preferably on the top of the net-work or next to the cotton, wool, yarn, &c., to be dried, so as to prevent the same from being displaced on turning over the drums or pulleys in transit through the heating apparatus. The netting may be formed of cord or twine or their equivalent, and, if desired, the slats may have teeth or projections to more securely hold the material to be dried from displacement. The cotton,*wool,

or yarns in skein or warp may be delivered to the endless aprons and conveyed through the dryingchamber. This dryingchamber H may be simply a large chamber into or through which hot air or gas is forced or drawn by one or more blowers or fans, J, or by any other means, the ingress or egress of air being al. lowed by the openings at the top or bottom-'f forinstance, as at I.

R represents the chamber for the generation of chlorine or sulphu rous acid, from which the vapors or gases are fed by pipe S into the supply I for the air passing to the machine or directly into the chamber Hbetween the aprons, asindicatcd in dotted lines. pipe S may be turned into the direction of motion to the air, passing air sucks ont the disinfectant or bleaching reagent. The pressure due to the generation of the gas will insure its being fed in requisite quantities to thelmachine, and, if desired, the same gas might be used over and over again by connecting the pipe I with the blowers, as indicated in `dotted lines. The bleached material fed to the machine would in a measure supply the moisture with .which the chlorine gas should be diluted, hence or-` dinary'chlorine gas might be used in the ma-v chine, as the irritatmg effect due to it upon,

the operator would in a measure be overcome owingA to the closed condition of the machine and the suction always being from the outside The end of theas indicated at T, so that the thereof. The if desired,

of the machine to the interior air used as a drying medium may,

be heated before passing through the machine I by being caused to pass over hot surfaces, as indicated in Fig. 2, dotted lines.

When the disinfectant or is a gas, it may be fed directly to the air-supply pipe of the chamber, but when it is a heavy 6o vapor it should be fed between the aprons at one or more places near their entrance to the chamber H, and shortly before the exit of the drying medium, but preferably so that it acts upon both sides of the material to be dried.

In place of bleaching or disinfecting gas any form of fluid may be used, such as Coudys or Burnetts, for instance.

In this application I do, not claim the apparatus, as that forms subject matter of my 7o application bearing even date with this, Serial No. 196,642. y

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is s s 7 5.

1. The herein-described process for treating a. textile material to be tinted, bleached, or disiufected, which consists in causing the ma.-` terial to be passed back and forth through a closed chamber and exposed to strong currents 8o of air impregnatedwith a coloring, bleaching, or disinfecting reagent in a gaseous or finelydivided condition, which substances are drawn or forced directly through the material to be treated, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The herein-described process for treating a material to be tinted, bleached, or disinfecte and dried, which consists in causing the material in a wet or moist condition to be passed back and forth through a closed chamber, and exposed to strong currents of air impregnated with a coloring, bleaching, or disinfecting reagent, which substances are drawn or'forced directly through the material to be treated, andv the actionV being continued suciently long to thoroughly dry the saidmaterial, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony of which invention I hereunto set my hand.

JOHN H. LORIMER. Witnesses:

R. M. HUNTER, Brenn. S. CHILD, Jr.

bleaching reagent a Y, 

